Tap water from new treatment plant will still be rated 'hard'

STERLING -- Ever since Sterling's Public Works Department announced the city's water treatment plant was about 95 percent complete, there's been a buzz over finally being able to drink tap -- or cook -- straight from the without worrying about future health problems.

If anyone were to worry about the construction of a plant that boosts universal water standards, it would be the companies that bank onpeople's need for clean water: water-softening companies, such as Culligan and Hytek Water Conditioning.

Except they don't.

While owners of both companies have said they're unsure of how the city's new water will affect their bottom line, they also don't think their doors will be closing any time soon.

A Culligan water station sits alone Wednesday afternoon. Water softener providers don't know how the new Sterling water treatment plant will affect business, but they don't think they'll be going out of business anytime soon. (David Martinez/Journal-Advocate)

"I'm not planning on that, no," said Hytek owner Elton Lane, with a laugh.

He isn't sure how the new city water will taste, but he thinks people will continue to use his water softening services if they aren't happy with the results.

It's no secret to Sterling residents that the tap water gets a bad rap right now -and for good reason.

It holds a tantalizing mix of uranium levels deemed unsafe by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and water hardness levels up to four times what's rated "very hard."

For perspective, very hard water has more than 10.5 grains (about 65 mg) of calcium carbonate per gallon of water (gpg), while Sterling boasts 35 to 42.

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"If you make a pot of coffee, there's a film that forms on the top," said Sterling resident Paula Emmons, as she filled a crate full of gallon jugs at a Culligan water station on Wednesday. "I don't cook with it, either."

"We don't even give it to the dogs," added Sterling resident Cindy Cook, who was refilling water with her.

The two said they might stop using the Culligan station if the treatment plant makes the water cleaner, but not if it still had hard water.

"Our equipment takes (gpg) down to zero," said Ty Baseggio, co-owner of Culligan. "Here, there will still be hard water."

That's true. The water treatment plant will only put 80 percent of its groundwater through reverse osmosis treatment - which filters out uranium and impurities -while blending 20 percent regular filtered and chlorinated water.

City Manager Joe Kiolbasa said the treatment plant is shooting to lower the city's water hardness to 7 gpg, or less than 80 percent of its original level. But that's still considered moderately hard to hard.

He also pointed out that a water's hardness depends on the scale; at least six measurements exist, from general hardness and gpg to parts per million or English, German or French degrees.

But what makes Hytek and Culligan most concerned isn't the water classification so much as the consequences the treatment plant will have on their customer's wallets.

Both companies think the price their Sterling customers will pay for city water after the treatment plant is finished will cut into what they can spend on their personal water treatment.

"You're going to have 'x' number of dollars in your pocket, and you've got less money to spend," said Dan Sutter, the second co-owner of Culligan. "There's a lot of people who, you know, every dollar stretches a little."

Kiolbasa said there isn't a rate increase planned for 2013 that he can see. The year's rates were set by estimates the city received from three similar water plants: La Junta, Brighton and East Cherry Creek Valley Water in Aurora.

He wasn't as sure of the water rates in 2014. If the city underestimated the its water rates, they would increase next year. But if they overestimated the rates -which is less likely - they would delay any future rate increases.

"We'll know more by this point next year," Kiolbasa said. "No two plants are exactly alike."

What gives Sutter and Baseggio more confidence is the fact that, for them, a new water treatment plant isn't anew challenge.

Culligan offers services in Julesburg and Fort Morgan, which have also built relatively new water treatment plants. They said the customers might drop in Sterling, but they've stayed in other cities because they still appreciate the taste of their softened water over the tap water.

"(When customers ask,) I say the city's putting in a system to remove uranium, just as the (state) told them to do," Baseggio said. "Their water will not be the same quality we have."

"We know what their goals are and we know what's been done in the past," Sutter said.

For Lane, who has owned Hytek for nearly 34 years, this will be his first time encountering a new treatment plant.

But he's also spoken with others in the water business, including those who work in Denver and around the state, and he says they stay open, regardless. His company also has customers from Yuma to Haxtun to Sidney, Neb.

He understands there was nothing the city could do about the water plant, he said. There's no animosity.

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